Tyler's birthday...number "9"

I can't believe we have a 9 year old. I look at him every day and realize that my crazy little boy is mostly a memory. He has grown so much. Even his jokes are grown up jokes. He is changing so much. He really enjoys playing basketball and loved his first year playing. He is really starting to enjoy reading and loves to put his headlamp on every night when he goes to bed so he can read until he gets tired. He loves to play the xbox and can even beat his dad sometimes! His newest obsession though is sharks. Whenever he gets the chance he will watch the seasons of shark week on netflix. The kid is a walking book of knowledge on sharks. He knows everything there is to know about every kind of shark and loves to talk about it. He is such a fun "big" boy and we are really enjoying watching him grow up. Happy Birthday Ty! We love you so much!
Behold! The new sled from Grandpa Kim!

Of course he had to have a shark cake. After the last one I made him I swore I would NEVER make another one, it was such a beast. But I discovered the trick of using rice crispie treats as a mold and covering with marshmallow fondant. It was so fun and easy. He loved it! And yes, that is a bloody swedish fish in his mouth...like I said, he isn't a little boy anymore!

Gracie's first candy cane!

Just look at that face. This little girl was in heaven. (And not happy when I finally took it away). She was one sticky baby!

Trimming the tree

Hanging the ornaments.

Dancing to some Christmas song....she takes after her mom :)

Dressing up in the tinsel

Gracie's first Christmas. What a good helper!

O Christmas Tree

This year we decided to cut down our own Christmas tree for the first time. We headed up towards Mesa Falls to find our perfect tree. In the process we had a fun adventure. It hadn't snowed a ton, but enough that the road was rutted out. We ended up getting sucked off the shoulder and stuck. Lucky for us, there was a truck behind us to pull us out. The only problem was that we couldn't turn around. We thought about backing down the mountain but decided to press forward, staying in the tracks until we got to the turn around at the falls. Great idea until we got there and some super smart couple on a date decided to park their acura car right in the middle of the road while they took a hike to the falls. No one could get around them. So we parked and headed into the forest with the kids. Only there were no pretty trees to be found unless they were 40 feet high. So back to the car we went. After laying on the horn to try and get the attention of the car owners with no luck, we started backing down the mountain. The whole time poor Tyler was sitting in the back making comments about how this was the "worst idea we've ever had!" and "we're never gonna get home like this" and on and on. We made it back to lower Mesa and decided to turn around...and got stuck. By now it was about 4:00 and starting to get dark and NO ONE else was around. By now Tyler was having a full on heart attack that we were stranded, no one was going to find us, we were going to strave and die right there in our car. But using the mad skills we have, me and Eli managed to get us out...an inch at a time. Once we were turned around, Eli and the boys decided to head back out while I stayed in with the girls. Allie was frozen and Gracie was hungry, of course. After about 20 minutes the boys appeared dragging our perfect Christmas tree behind. It worked out perfect! We made it down from the mountain just in time to enjoy a beautiful Idaho sunset!

Into the forest we go!

Time out for playing!

Doesn't get any prettier than that.

Naughty Gracie

No words needed......toilet paper is just so much fun when you're almost one!

Thanksgiving in Moses Lake

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to get out of town and go visit Eli's brother, Andrew and his wife Britni up in Moses Lake, WA. It was so fun to get away and have a family adventure. We spent the night in Boise to break up the drive and give the kids a chance to swim. Me and Eli have come full circle as a couple. When we were dating (12 years ago) we stayed at a Hampton Inn in Boise with his family during one of his baseball tournaments. We took his 3 youngest brothers swimming and the hot tub was toxic. From youngest to oldest we all started coughing and choking and almost puking and our eyes were on fire. Since then we've always called it the "poison pool". Well, we pull in to our hotel and lo and behold it was the same hotel. We laughed and laughed....the memories. It was so weird to be swimming with our own kids (the boys are pretty much the same age his brothers were, so crazy)! Such a fun way to start our trip. The drive was pretty much uneventful until Tyler got car sick for the first time ever, 9 hours into the drive. Not cool. But 99% of the puke made it onto the outside of our car so we survived. It was so fun to see Andrew and Britni. They were the best hosts. We got to eat, sleep, talk, go to one of Andrew's games and bowl. It was just what we needed for our little getaway!

Tyler thought it was so cool that his name was on a sign. Too bad his last name isn't Cheney or it would have been extra cool.


Taking a break at the rest stop.


Gracie bugs helping in the kitchen.

Movie time! Gracie loves popcorn as much as her sister.

Um........do you think they come from the same gene pool or what???

Aunt Britni and her little helpers. They couldn't leave her alone in the kitchen.

Happy Birthday Allie (only 3 months late)

Well, here I am finally getting around to catching up. I panicked just a little when I started thinking to myself that after all the craziness tomorrow I should update the blog with our Christmas adventures and then I remembered that I am behind clear to Allie's birthday. So here are the highlights from her special day. She was SO much fun this year. She just gets so excited about everything. Her cheeks had to have hurt by the time it was all over. She loved her Dora cake, the millions of fingernail polishes, princess clothes, you name it. This little girly girl was one happy chiquita on her birthday this year. Happy Birthday our little 3 year old! (Now if we stay lucky and Christmas Eve stays as chill as it has been so far, I'll have Halloween and Thanksgiving on here before tomorrow...hahahaha)!